Summary
The Kremlin has said it is willing to continue talks with the United States over European security, but is “not optimistic” about their prospects, after Washington and Nato allies again rejected a key part of Russia’s proposed new order for post cold-war security.
Russian president Vladimir Putin’s chief spokesman Dmitry Peskov said “there isn’t much reason to be optimistic” after the US and Nato rejected Moscow’s demands for a veto on Ukraine’s membership in a co-ordinated response on Wednesday.
Moscow needed time to analyse the US document and would not “rush into assessments” Peskov added.
Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow’s main concern - the potential for Ukraine to join Nato - had not been addressed, but there was hope “for the start of a serious conversation on secondary issues”.
“There is no positive response in this document on the main issue,” he said.
Meanwhile, one of Lavrov’s spokespeople appeared to rule out war with Ukraine, in comments that led to a jump in the value of the Russian rouble, as investors gained confidence conflict could be avoided.
“We have already repeatedly stated that our country does not intend to attack anyone. We consider even the thought of a war between our people to be unacceptable,” said Alexei Zaitsev, a spokesman for the foreign ministry.
The focus turns again to Russian president Vladimir Putin, who is yet to voice his response and is being briefed on the document.
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy gave an upbeat assessment on the latest diplomatic manoeuvres, noting that his diplomats would meet counterparts from Russia, Germany and France next month in Berlin.
Ukraine has been seeking to downplay some reports of an imminent mass attack by Russia. One of Zelenskiy’s aides told Reuters the borderline “hysteria” about a Russian attack was hindering Kyiv’s attempts to borrow on international capital markets.
On a visit to Copenhagen, seeking to marshal support from Nato member Denmark, Ukraine’s foreign minister Dymytro Kuleba gave his approval of the US response to Russia and called for a unified response from the west on economic sanctions.
You can read my summary of the day’s events here: Russia remains open but ‘not optimistic’ over Ukraine talks
That’s all for today. Thank you for following the Ukraine liveblog.
Oil prices steadied on Thursday, after Brent crude earlier hit a seven-year high above $90 a barrel, Reuters reports.
Russia is the world’s second-largest oil producer, prompting fears of disruption of energy supplies to Europe, although concerns are more focused on natural gas.
“The market is very erratic on headlines on the Russia-Ukraine situation,” said Phil Flynn, senior analyst at Price Futures Group. “There’s uncertainty about what’s going to happen.”
Oil prices surged on Wednesday amid the ongoing stalemate over European security between Russia and the west, but investors are also reacting to concerns about supply from the United Arab Emirates.
Will Russia invade Ukraine? Ask the Guardian’s correspondents and other experts at this upcoming Guardian Live event.
Mark Rice-Oxley, Andrew Roth, Luke Harding, Nataliya Gumenyuk and Orysia Lutsevych will be discussing the ongoing developments between Russia and Ukraine, on Tuesday 8th February, 8pm GMT | 9pm CET | 1pm PDT | 4pm EDT. Book tickets here
The Berlin correspondent for the Times and the Sunday Times, Oliver Moody, has posted an interesting thread on German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock’s speech to the Bundestag earlier on Thursday. It starts here:
Annalena Baerbock's speech to the Bundestag today was the best summary of the German govt's thinking on Ukraine that I've seen anyone make in public, and is worth reading in full https://t.co/3Bll7P7IXw A few observations /1
— Oliver Moody (@olivernmoody) January 27, 2022
2. The really key passage seems to me to be this one, where she talks about how different NATO members have different roles, and says you don't want to have 11 centre forwards in a football team. The idea here is that NATO solidarity leaves space for different approaches ... /3 pic.twitter.com/F0w0dNihtg
— Oliver Moody (@olivernmoody) January 27, 2022
Updated
German chancellor Olaf Scholz will meet US president Joe Biden on 7 February during a visit to the Washington, the White House has announced. The two leaders are expected to discuss ongoing tensions between Russia and Ukraine, among other topics.
Meanwhile, my colleague in Berlin, Philip Oltermann, has been looking at what Germany’s main political parties have to say about sanctions.
German sanction table watch: SPD says "all options are on the table" if Ukraine's borders are violated but it's strategically wiser not to talk about what's on it. Baerbock says Nord Stream II is on the table. Merz says Swift is on the table, even though he doesn't like it there. pic.twitter.com/XRafKZp8TX
— Philip Oltermann (@philipoltermann) January 27, 2022
Friedrich Merz took over the leadership of Angela Merkel’s CDU party last Saturday, when he criticised Scholz for, as he put it, not immediately engaging with the US and Russia after taking office.
Scholz’s SPD is in government with Annalena Baerbock’s Greens and the pro-business FDP.
The Moscow Times has a helpful round-up of what Russia state media are saying about current tensions over Ukraine.
State-run Channel One has focused on Ukraine, reports the Moscow Times. Channel One has featured ruling United Russia party lawmakers calling for the government to provide the separatist-controlled regions of Luhansk and Donetsk in Ukraine with the weapons “they need to contain Kyiv’s aggression”.
Rossia 1, another leading state-run channel, however, put Ukraine behind Covid-19 and trade talks between Italy and Russia in its primetime coverage.
Meanwhile the state-run news agency RIA Novosti has an interview with Russia’s former president Dmitry Medvedev, who is now deputy chairman of Russia’s security council. Ukraine, Medvedev said, has become “a toy in the hands of Nato and above all the US”. His comments were picked up by RT, Rossiskaya Gazeta and other state media.
On the same theme, the BBC’s Moscow correspondent Steve Rosenberg has a regular, excellent round-up on the Russian press on his Twitter feed. The latest post looks at how pro-Kremlin media see divisions in the west, while one independent analyst tries to parse what Vladimir Putin wants.
Today pro-Kremlin papers in Russia try to paint a picture of Western disunity over Ukraine; but some Russian papers examine what a diplomatic resolution to this crisis may look like. #ReadingRussia https://t.co/NHlPVNSIPC @BBCNews @BBCWorld pic.twitter.com/n7To1pDkRs
— Steve Rosenberg (@BBCSteveR) January 26, 2022
Dmitri Trenin of the Moscow Carnegie Centre, interviewed by Kommersant, sees two different options for the Kremlin. Option one, as Rosenberg recounts, is “some kind of diplomatic resolution” where Moscow can claim it has secured a dialogue on European security for the first time since the reunification of Germany. Trenin’s option two is Russia breaking with the west and developing closer ties with China, Iran and US opponents, such as Cuba and Venezuela.
Ukraine has 'no objections' to US response to Moscow
Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba has said his government approves of the Biden’s administration’s response to Russia’s security demands in Europe, the Guardian’s senior international correspondent Luke Harding reports from Kyiv.
Kuleba said Kyiv had seen the US’s “written response” before it was hand-delivered on Wednesday to the Kremlin by the American ambassador in Moscow, John Sullivan. The US government reaffirmed its support for Ukraine’s right to join Nato, opposing Russian calls for a veto on new members.
“Important that the US remains in close contact with Ukraine before and after all contacts with Russia,” Kuleba tweeted. “No decisions on Ukraine without Ukraine. Golden rule.”
We had seen the written response of the U.S. before it was handed over to Russia. No objections on the Ukrainian side. Important that the U.S. remains in close contact with Ukraine before and after all contacts with Russia. No decisions on Ukraine without Ukraine. Golden rule.
— Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) January 27, 2022
Vladimir Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov has said the response from Washington is unsatisfactory and added that Russia’s president is currently studying the document.
The US deputy secretary of state Wendy Sherman, speaking on Wednesday, made clear the White House was not willing to offer “covert concessions” on Ukraine, or to withdraw Nato troops from eastern European countries including Romania and Bulgaria, as Moscow has demanded.
Updated
Nato is considering sending some troops to Slovakia, according to the country’s foreign minister Ivan Korčok.
He said no decisions had been taken, but discussions were underway, according to the website aktuality.sk.
His comments come as the US has asked other Nato allies to consider deploying hundreds more troops in Europe
Nato deployed battlegroups to Poland and the Baltic states, after Russia annexed Crimea in 2014. The US wants further reinforcements in the Baltics, as well as Romania and Bulgaria.
The Russian currency continued to make gains on Thursday, after a senior Russian official said the idea of war with Ukraine was unacceptable.
Russian foreign ministry spokesman Alexei Zaitsev said “our country does not intend to attack anyone. We consider even the thought of a war between our people to be unacceptable.”
By 1322 GMT the rouble was 1.9% stronger against the dollar, pulling away from a near 15-month low.
The trigger for the first rise may have been Belarus saying Russian troops would leave its territory once military drills, scheduled to end in February, are over, Reuters reports.
A dealer at a large Russian bank told the agency:
There was already active dollar selling since this morning, but the news from Belarus accelerated this process.
Zaitsev’s later comments lifted the rouble further. Investors have been unnerved by the prospect of sweeping sanctions on Russian, including Russian banks being cut off from the Swift interbank messaging system, if the Kremlin orders an invasion. Western countries are also looking at export bans on key civilian technologies, as part of a sanctions package intended to deter an attack.
Europe’s dependence on Russian gas has once again been thrust into the spotlight as tensions over Ukraine have mounted.
But the US has a plan. White House officials said earlier this week that the Biden administration is preparing to finalise a deal to “ensure Europe is able to make it through the winter and spring” by brokering a deal for major gas producing countries to send liquified natural gas (LNG) by tanker to Europe.
As the Guardian’s energy correspondent Jillian Ambrose reports, it is not a plan without challenges.
The global gas supply crunch which emerged as economies began to rebound following the Covid-19 slump means there is little spare gas to go around, according to analyst Xi Nan from Rystad Energy.
The US has said that its conversations are “really broad, with a lot of companies and countries around the world” so that it wouldn’t need “to ask any one individual company or country to surge exports by significant volumes, but rather smaller volumes from a multitude of sources”.
“The question,” said Helima Croft at RBC Capital, “is whether the US can find any slack in the system”.
Read Jillian’s full report: Energy crisis: where could Europe’s gas come from if Russia cuts exports?
Ukraine's president welcomes 'constructive' talks with Russia
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has given a positive assessment of negotiations with Russia in Paris.
Senior officials from Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany met in Paris on Wednesday, where they agreed to further talks in Berlin next month.
A statement issued by the Ukrainian president’s office said:
The President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskiy positively assesses the fact of the meeting, its constructive nature, as well as the intention to continue meaningful talks [in] two weeks in Berlin.
Ukraine’s government, embroiled in a war with Moscow-backed separatists in the Donbass for eight years, has downplayed some reports of an imminent large-scale invasion by Russia. An adviser to Zelenskiy said on Thursday there was borderline “hysteria” about an attack.
Hello again, this is Jennifer Rankin, back from a break, picking up the blog from Oliver.
Updated
Investors and currency traders appear cautiously optimistic that the risk of imminent war has decreased, with the Russian rouble being up 1.1% against the dollar on Thursday.
The rouble appeared to rebound following news out of Belarus this morning. The Belarusian ministry of defence said Russian troops would leave its territory once joint exercises between the two ex-Soviet countries were over next month.
Russia began moving troops into Belarus, north of Ukraine, earlier this month to conduct military exercises, in a move that sharply increased fears of an invasion.
Some military analysts have suggested Russia could send its forces through Belarus to attack Ukraine from the north, as well as the east.
“At the end of the inspection, military units and sub-units of the Russian Federation’s Armed Forces will leave the territory of the Republic of Belarus,” the ministry said.
The so-called “Allied Resolve” exercises are due to end around 20 February.
Russia says war 'unacceptable' and hopes for further talks
Russia’s foreign ministry has said that Moscow is focused on a diplomatic solution to the crisis, saying war between Russia and Ukraine would be “unacceptable”.
“We have already repeatedly stated that our country does not intend to attack anyone. We consider even the thought of a war between our people to be unacceptable,” said Alexei Zaitsev, a spokesman for the ministry.
Meetings in Paris on Wednesday between Ukrainian and Russian representatives, together with French and German officials, ended “without a result”, Zaitsev said, but he added there were hopes that talks in Berlin in two weeks’ time will be productive.
Moscow has sought to downplay fears of a looming Russian invasion, despite positioning troops on its border with Ukraine.
Hello readers. Oliver Holmes here. I’m taking over the live blog briefly while Jennifer has a break.
Ukraine is struggling to borrow on international capital markets because of borderline “hysteria” over a Russian attack, an adviser to Ukraine’s president has told Reuters.
Oleg Ustenko, an aide to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, told the news agency in Kyiv that borrowing had become “not impossible, but extremely difficult”.
He said:
In the context of a sharp increase in the degree of discussions around issues related to the security of Ukraine, which sometimes border on hysteria, the country’s opportunities for entering foreign capital markets are limited.
Under such conditions, he said, Ukraine had to secure its “financial cushion” through sources other than financial markets. He said Ukraine hoped to borrow $5bn from other countries, European and international institutions.
Earlier this week, the EU promised Kyiv €1.2bn in financial aid, adding to the €17bn the EU and its financial institutions have provided in grants and loans since Russia annexed Crimea in 2014.
The French president Emmanuel Macron will have a telephone conversation with Vladimir Putin on Friday, the Guardian’s Paris correspondent Angelique Chrisafis reports.
France remains convinced that there is room for dialogue over the Ukraine crisis, and that talks could help get Russia into a concrete process of “de-escalation”.
Macron’s call with the Russian president has two goals, the French government spokesman Gabriel Attal said. First, “to continue dialogue” and second, to “push Russia to clarify its position and the aim of [military] manoeuvring.” Attal said Macron “is at the heart of efforts towards de-escalation”.
The call is scheduled for 10.45 am Paris time.
Macron has long approached international affairs with the conviction that he can open up dialogue by fostering personal ties and one-to-one relationships with tricky world leaders, including Putin, and that he has a power of persuasion. But he has acknowledged that “a discussion with Russia is always difficult”.
Macron has yet to officially announce a bid for re-election in France’s presidential race in April and to launch his campaign. But his opponents have begun to seize on the Ukraine crisis to pressure the pro-European Macron over France’s place on the international stage and to question his long-standing promise of an EU that would be “powerful in the world”.
Valérie Pécresse, the right’s candidate for the party, Les Républicains, who is a Russian-speaker, wrote in Le Monde that Europe and the EU must have a prominent seat at the table, and not leave it to the US decide the response to the crisis. “Where is France’s voice today?” asked the Communist party candidate Fabien Roussel.
Nathalie Loiseau, the MEP and Macron’s former Europe minister, said Macron was engaged in two elements: “dialogue and diplomacy on one side and dissuasion on the other side”.
Updated
Germany vows sanctions would cover Nord Stream 2 if Russia invades Ukraine
Germany has vowed to hit Russia with “strong sanctions” if it invades Ukraine, including on the disputed Nord Stream 2 pipeline built to bring Russian gas to Europe, AFP reports.
“We are working on a strong package of sanctions” with Western allies, and it covers several aspects “including Nord Stream 2”, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock told parliament.
Her statement came soon after the US State Department said the pipeline would not move forward if Russia invades Ukraine.
Nord Stream 2 is set to double supplies of cheap natural gas from Russia to Germany, which the EU’s top economy says is needed to help transition away from coal and nuclear energy.
Although the €10bn pipeline was completed in September, it is still pending approval from German and EU regulators.
On Wednesday, Germany’s economy minister Robert Habeck acknowledged that if sanctions had to be deployed against Russia, the German economy would also suffer.
If there are to be sanctions, there will be none that won’t hit the German economy.
If you are looking for the background on the long-running controversy on Nord Steam 2, read this essential explainer from the Guardian’s diplomatic editor, Patrick Wintour:
Updated
A senior Russian official has said a nuclear missile crisis between Moscow and Washington was unavoidable without measures to ensure restraint and predictability, Reuters reports.
Vladimir Ermakov, a senior Russian foreign ministry official, said Moscow thought the United States was preparing to deploy short and intermediate range missiles to Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, according to the Russian state news agency Tass.
Updated
Germany’s restrictive stance on exporting weapons or military equipment to Ukraine is causing consternation in Kyiv and elsewhere in Europe, but the position has popular support among the German population.
In a new YouGov poll published on Thursday morning, 59% of respondents supported not sending lethal weapons to help Ukraine protect itself against a Russian attack.
Only 20% said they supported weapons exports, 21% declined to answer. Support for restricting the export of German weapons to Ukraine was strongest amongst supporters of leftwing Die Linke and the far-right Alternative für Deutschland, weakest among supporters of the Green party and the liberal FDP, the two junior partners in the German coalition government.
Germany is one of the world’s top five arms exporters, with deals reaching a new record of almost €5 billion last year. Importers of arms produced in Germany include Egypt, which is tied into conflicts in Yemen and Libya.
Germany’s defence minister, Christine Lambrecht, announced on Wednesday that Berlin would supply Ukraine with 5,000 military helmets. She said the offer sent “a very clear signal: we are on your side”.
Vitali Klitschko, the mayor of Kyiv and a former world heavyweight boxing champion, who previously lived in Germany, described the offer as a “joke”.
Updated
Kremlin 'not optimistic' and 'won't rush' its response to US paper
The Kremlin has said there is room to continue talking to the United States, but “won’t rush” with its assessment of the response from Washington to its proposals to re-write the post cold-war security order.
The Russian president’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said it would take time for Moscow to review the US document, after Washington issued a formal response on Wednesday to Russian demands for a veto on future Nato enlargement and a rollback of alliance forces.
The Guardian’s Moscow correspondent Andrew Roth has sent this quote from Peskov:
“You heard what the US state secretary and the NATO secretary general said yesterday: they were loud and clear about non-acceptance of the main concerns expressed by Russia...
So there isn’t much reason to be optimistic. But I would still avoid any conceptual opinions.
Here is a bit more via Reuters:
Based on what our colleagues said yesterday it’s absolutely clear that on the main categories outlined in those draft documents... we cannot say that our thoughts have been taken into account or that a willingness has been shown to take our concerns into account.
But we won’t rush with our assessments.
Speaking separately, Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said there was a hope of dialogue on secondary issues, but the US had not given a positive reaction to Russia’s most important question, namely the expansion of Nato.
Updated
"Good news" that Russia wants to talk - Ukraine's Kuleba
Ukraine has welcomed Russia’s offer to continue talks in early February as “good news” and a sign that Moscow wants a diplomatic solution to the current crisis.
Senior Russian and Ukrainian officials met on Wednesday in Paris with representatives of France and Germany. The four countries have agreed to meet again in two weeks time in Berlin.
As AFP reports, Ukraine Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said
The good news is that advisers agreed to meet in Berlin in two weeks, which means that at least for the next two weeks, Russia is likely to remain on a diplomatic track.
Nonetheless, he called for the West to strengthen its military and defence cooperation with Kyiv.
While I am a big fan of soft power, I’m afraid that this is really the time for hard power to be used.
Kuleba was speaking after a meeting with his Danish counterpart Jeppe Kofod in Copenhagen, as part of Ukraine’s continuing diplomatic outreach.
Denmark is a Nato member and on Thursday promised further funds to help Ukraine carry out reforms.
🇩🇰🤝🇺🇦Pleased to welcome #Ukraine Foreign Minister in Copenhagen at difficult time
— Jeppe Kofod (@JeppeKofod) January 27, 2022
Ukraine faces unprecedented military buildup by Russia. Urge Russia to de-escalate
Denmark remains unwavering in support of Ukraine, will provide further funds for stabilisation, reforms#dkpol pic.twitter.com/4Bi19i7sdq
Honored to have an audience with HM Queen Margrethe II of Denmark in Copenhagen today. Highly appreciate Her Majesty’s unwavering support for Ukraine as our country counters Russian aggression. Looking forward to the Royal Family’s visit to Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/cjbzYKuqo6
— Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) January 27, 2022
"No positive reaction" from US to Russia's main security question - Lavrov
The United States has not given a positive response to Russia’s most important security question, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has said.
The Russian news agency Ria Novosti quotes Lavrov as telling reporters that there was “no positive reaction” on the main question.
On the main question in this document [from the US] there is no positive reaction. The main question is our clearly-stated position about the admissibility of further expansion of Nato to the east and deployment of strike weapons that could threaten the territory of the Russian Federation.
Lavrov is referring to the US government’s formal response on Wednesday to the Kremlin’s security demands set out last month.
President Vladimir Putin “will decide on Russia’s next steps with regard to the US and Nato responses to the security proposals” Lavrov is quoted as saying in a Reuters snap.
Updated
The EU’s chief diplomat Josep Borrell has welcomed the US response to Russia’s security demands.
Writing on Twitter, the EU high representative for foreign and security policy urged Russia to take the diplomatic path.
I welcome @secblinken’s written response to Russia’s security proposals.
— Josep Borrell Fontelles (@JosepBorrellF) January 26, 2022
The diplomatic path offers the only lasting solution to the people of Ukraine and the people of Europe.
I urge Russia to take it. The EU and the U.S. are united in our approach.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken on Wednesday set out the US’s formal response to the Kremlin’s maximalist security demands issued in December. In a written reply, Blinken reiterated US support for Ukraine’s right to join Nato, although no one thinks that will happen anytime soon.
The EU has been accused of being absent from the main diplomatic manoeuvres. EU leaders, including Borrell, reject this charge and are keen to project a united front with the US. European diplomats have also praised their US counterparts for extensive briefings and sharing information.
“My heart is hurting. Why did Russia do this?” This are the words of Ulshin, a Ukrainian army commander, surveying the wreckage of what was once a school in Shyrokyne, in eastern Ukraine, on the frontline between the Ukrainian army and pro-Russian forces.
He was talking to Luke Harding, a Guardian foreign correspondent, who has been reporting extensively from the frontline, where he has found echoes of world war one in the muddy stalemate.
Here is his video report from the coastal city of Mariupol on preparations for a potential Russian attack. It’s also a powerful reminder that Ukraine has been at war with Russian-backed separatists in the Donbass region since 2014, with at least 14,000 lives lost.
If Russia invades Ukraine, how will it happen, where will it happen and when will it happen? And how did international tensions ratchet up to this point in the first place?
The Guardian’s Moscow correspondent Andrew Roth, visual projects editor David Blood and interactive journalist Niels de Hoog have put together a terrific guide to troop deployments with maps, satellite images and the background to the current stand-off.
Here is one interesting detail:
A map released by Ukrainian military intelligence in November showed a worst-case scenario: Russian forces crossing the Ukrainian border from the east and attacking from annexed Crimea, as well as launching an amphibious assault on Odessa with support from Russian soldiers in Transnistria and troops sent in from Belarus.
Some aspects of the plan, such as offensives from the east and through Crimea, already appear possible. Others, such as an attack from Belarus, appear to factor in troops that have not yet arrived in the region.
Russia-Ukraine crisis: where are Putin’s troops and what are his options.
China has told the United States it wants to see all sides involved in Ukraine remain calm and avoid increasing tension, Reuters has reported.
China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke about tensions over Ukraine in a telephone on Wednesday.
“We call on all parties to stay calm and refrain from doing things that agitate tensions and hype up the crisis,” Wang told Blinken, China’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
The US state department quoted Blinken as having “conveyed that de-escalation and diplomacy are the responsible way forward”.
Russian leader Vladimir Putin is to meet the Chinese president Xi Jinping at the opening session of the winter olympics in Beijing on 4 February. Some analysts believe if an attack happens it would be after this date.
Ukrainian police arrest soldier over shooting
Ukrainian police have detained a National Guard soldier who shot security guards at a military factory for unknown reasons, killing five people and injuring five others, the interior minister said in a Facebook post.
Here are the details from Reuters:
Four servicemen and one civilian woman were killed by the soldier, who was armed with an AK-47 assault rifle and 200 rounds of ammunition.
Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskiy named the soldier as Artem Ryabchuk and said he would “bear the strictest responsibility provided by law”.
Monastyrskiy said a special commission would be set up to investigate all circumstances that could have led to the crime.
Deputy interior minister Anton Gerashchenko said the inquiry would focus on the shooter’s motive. “First of all, the question of whether the serviceman faced psychological pressure in (his) team will be studied,” Gerashchenko said.
Investigators would also look into how the soldier passed a medical examination that qualified him to access weapons.
Updated
Summary
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live blog on the Ukraine crisis, bringing you all the latest news.
I’m Jennifer Rankin and I’ll be bringing you up to date with diplomatic developments for the next few hours.
It’s another day of acute tensions, as western countries await a formal response from Russia, after the US and Nato again reaffirmed support for Ukraine’s aspiration to join Nato.
On Wednesday the US State Department warned that the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline between Russia and Germany will not move forward if Russia invades Ukraine.
Germany’s ambassador to Washington, Emily Haber, appeared to endorse this position, citing previous comments from German chancellor Olaf Scholz and foreign minister Annalena Baerbock that “nothing will be off the table”.
As Russia’s military build-up on Ukraine’s borders continues, the UK defence secretary Ben Wallace has said he is “not optimistic” that a Russian incursion can be stopped.
Wallace, who is due to meet his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu in the coming days, told the BBC there was still “a chance” an invasion could be stopped, but he was not optimistic.
He was speaking after the US and Nato reaffirmed Ukraine’s right to pursue membership of the transatlantic alliance.
The US on Wednesday delivered a written response to the Kremlin’s maximalist demands from last month, which called for a veto on Ukraine’s Nato membership and the withdrawal of alliance forces from eastern Europe.
Russian President Vladimir Putin was due to be briefed on the document, but his foreign minister has already given a big hint of the Russian response. Sergei Lavrov said
If the west continues its aggressive course, Moscow will take the necessary retaliatory measures. We won’t allow our proposals to be drowned in endless discussions.
Read more in the Guardian’s report from Washington, Paris, Kyiv and Moscow:
Meanwhile police are searching for a Ukrainian National Guard soldier, who shot security guards at a military factory in central Ukraine for unknown reasons, killing five people and injuring five others before fleeing.
The shooting took place in the early hours of Thursday in Dnipro at the Pivdenmash missile factory during the issuance of weapons to the guards, according to an official statement. It is not clear if the incident is linked to the current tensions with Russia.
Updated
